The Charlotte BIPOC Meditation Community (CBMC) is a Black, Indigenous and People of Color Meditation Community, founded in 2023 by Renaurd West and Danny Tindall, who are interested in the cultural influences and historic ‘threads’ that have made us mindful, contemplative BIPOC people. CBMC is an emerging Charitable Program of the Social Good Fund, incubated at the Charlotte Center for Mindfulness.
CBMC is an emerging Charitable Program of the Social Good Fund. CBMC is dedicated to practices of Mindful Meditation, Insight Meditation, honoring our ancestors and creating ritual and safe places for black indigenous and people of color to gather to foster freedom of heart and mind.
The need for a BIPOC meditation community is well illustrated by meditation teacher JoAnna Hardy She believes that as Buddhist practices were brought from the east to the United States, convert practitioners knowingly or unknowingly adopted a practice of selective cultural appropriation. In so doing, many cultural practices or symbols were overly simplified, stripped of their meaning and significance, or even used to replicate systems of oppression. We see it as critical to highlight POC cultural practices, imbuing the individual meditative practices with additional potential and meaning. Our Charlotte BIPOC Meditation Community strives to create a welcoming and inclusive environment where everyone can learn, grow, feel safe / seen and connect with others.